Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Rattle

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To us, Dvorák’s music breathes the air of his native Czechoslovakia. But to his countrymen, Dvorák wasn’t Czech enough; his music sounded a bit too Germanic. So in the last decade of his life, Dvorák demonstrated his patriotic credentials by composing four tone poems based on Czech folk tales.

The stories are grim, full of murderous witches and wives, and sometimes the music takes on a Disney-ish hobgoblin quality. But Dvorák preferred to dwell on the rustic backdrop to the stories, and these pieces are full of a radiant folk-inspired lyricism. Frankly, it’s the last kind